


a friendly dinner.

by pyroallerdyce



Series: captured moments. [20]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, One Shot Collection, Short One Shot, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24006307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyroallerdyce/pseuds/pyroallerdyce
Summary: Ben had just sat down at his table when he heard his name, looking up to see Zorii coming towards him.  So he got back up to hug her, smiling.  “Zorii.”“It's been a while, Solo,” Zorii said, hugging him.  “I haven't run into you at Coruscant lately.”“Kind of avoiding the place at the moment,” Ben said, sitting back down.  “Hux works there.”Zorii laughed.  “I'm sure he's going crazy about you having a girlfriend, isn't he?”or:  Ben has dinner with Zorii like Poe asked him to, and he introduces her to Rey.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: captured moments. [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602691
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	a friendly dinner.

**Author's Note:**

> One shot #20. I didn't think this was going to go past ten when I started this. I really didn't.
> 
> Updates to this collection of one shots occur on Mondays and/or Fridays.
> 
> And as always, if you like what you read, please let me know via a comment or kudos or bookmark so that I know I'm not writing into a void. Enjoy!

Ben had just sat down at his table when he heard his name, looking up to see Zorii coming towards him. So he got back up to hug her, smiling. “Zorii.”

“It's been a while, Solo,” Zorii said, hugging him. “I haven't run into you at Coruscant lately.”

“Kind of avoiding the place at the moment,” Ben said, sitting back down. “Hux works there.”

Zorii laughed. “I'm sure he's going crazy about you having a girlfriend, isn't he?”

Ben rolled his eyes. “You have no idea. I had no idea my friends were more desperate than my mother was for this to happen. Not that Hux is a friend.”

“Hux is a friend,” Zorii said, shaking her head as she sat down. “He might not be your best friend, but he's a friend. Just like me.”

“You're much more my friend than Hux is,” Ben said. “You really are.”

“Well, I appreciate that.” Zorii looked around the café for a moment. “This is a nice place. Is it pretty new?”

“I'm surprised you haven't been in here before,” Ben said, picking up his menu. “Poe opened it about six years ago.”

Zorii blinked. “Poe owns this place?”

“Yes,” Ben said, looking up at her. “He took the money that his mother left him and invested it in this.”

“He hasn't mentioned that,” Zorii sighed. “He's still terrified to talk to me, isn't he?”

“Of course. I'll make him talk to you before you leave,” Ben replied. “And I think not telling you about this has more to do with you not being able to find a job. I told him he should just hire you. He's hopeless with the financials of this place.”

“I wouldn't be opposed to that at the moment. If I had any idea how hard it would be to find a job in this town, I would have stayed where I was.”

“Why did you come back anyway?” Ben asked. “You were so happy to get out of here.”

“I missed my family. I missed my friends.” Zorii paused and looked around the room to make sure Poe wasn't in earshot. “I missed him.”

Ben gave her a disbelieving look. “You expect me to buy that bullshit?”

“It's not bullshit,” Zorii said. “I really did miss him. He was a fucking bastard and he broke my heart, so I left to get away from him and all it did was make me want him more. I just have no idea what to do with that information.”

Ben set his menu down and ran his hands over his face. “So you're telling me that you wouldn't be opposed to getting back together with him?”

“We'd have to take things slowly and rebuild that trust, but I'd be willing to give it a chance. I'm sure he doesn't want that though.”

“You're both idiots,” Ben said, smiling as Rey approached the table. “Good evening, darling.”

Rey smiled at the term of endearment. “Good evening, honey.”

She bent and kissed Ben, and he noticed Zorii watching him in amusement as Rey stood back up. “Zorii,” he forced himself to say, “this is Rey. Rey, this is my friend Zorii.”

“It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard a bit about you over the last few months and was wondering when you were going to come in,” Rey said, reaching into her apron for her order book.

“It's nice to meet you too, though I must admit that I was completely unaware of the fact that Ben had a girlfriend until a couple of days ago,” Zorii said, giving Ben a pointed look. 

“I was not hiding that from you,” Ben said quickly. “Every time that we've run into each other is in Coruscant and I'm trying desperately not to have to talk to Hux about Rey. That's all. I'm happy to admit that I have a girlfriend.”

“You leave Hux to me,” Rey said, smiling. “I'll make sure he leaves you alone.”

“I love you, darling, but not even you have that kind of power,” Ben said, which made Rey's smile turn into a grin. 

“I may not, but Phasma does, and when we have lunch tomorrow, you better believe that she's hearing about this.”

“You know Hux and Phasma?” Zorii asked. 

“Phasma's an old roommate of mine. I know Hux through her. Didn't know that he used to be Ben's roommate until our second date though,” Rey said, looking up when she heard her name. “I'll be back in a few to get your drink orders.”

She walked away without saying another word, and Zorii turned her attention to Ben. “You're in love with her?”

“Yes,” Ben murmured. “I told her that this afternoon.”

“Just this afternoon?” 

“Yes,” Ben said again. “Then we decided that she's going to permanently move in.”

Zorii smiled at him. “I never thought I'd see the day when this would happen again.”

“I think everyone was feeling that way, but Rey's amazing. I can't wait for you two to get to know each other better.”

“I'm very much looking forward to that. Leia was gushing about her when I ran into her and Padmé this morning at the store.”

Ben groaned. “Exactly how embarrassing was that conversation?”

“No worse than any other conversation I've had with your mother about you,” Zorii said, laughing. “But Leia was very excited about this development.”

“Fuck, I'm going to have to tell her that Rey moved in,” Ben said, covering his face with his hands. “That's going to be torture.”

“I think that what you'll find is that she's just happy for you,” Zorii said. “I know my mother would be very happy if I made that sort of progress in a relationship. But, it's hard to do that with someone when you love someone else.”

“Have you thought about just telling Poe that?” Ben asked, picking up his menu. “Because I know that he'd be very happy to hear that.”

“I'm afraid that he'd want to jump right in on the whole thing again, and I'd need this to go very slowly. So I thought reestablishing our friendship would be a good place to start, but he seems reluctant to talk to me.”

“He's an idiot who is afraid of fucking things up between you two again,” Ben said, shaking his head as Poe came towards them. “And here comes the idiot now.”

“Fuck off, Ben,” Poe said as he approached the table. “Good evening, Zorii.”

“This place is nice, Poe,” Zorii said. “You should have told me about it before.”

“I didn't want you to take it the wrong way,” Poe started, but Zorii just laughed.

“I can not have a job and be happy for those of my friends who are succeeding. Besides, I've been needing somewhere to eat regularly like we used to do at Kijimi. I was sad to find that was gone.”

“That's one of the reasons that I opened this place up, actually. I was missing somewhere like Kijimi.” Poe turned his attention to Ben before he said something stupid. “Just so you know, Solo, Hux's band is the one playing tonight.”

“You lousy motherfucker,” Ben muttered. “Seriously?”

“I completely forgot it was them,” Poe said defensively. “I'm not used to seeing Arkanis and thinking of Hux yet.”

Ben sighed heavily. “I'll figure out a way to deal with him then.”

“Let Phasma handle it because I'd almost guarantee that she is going to be with him tonight.”

“Probably. I just know that he's going to get the info that Rey's moving in permanently somehow and I'm going to hate that so, so much.”

Poe's eyes widened. “You asked?”

“There was a discussion this afternoon,” Ben said, trying not to get into it. “Anyway, I was telling Zorii that you would be willing to hire her.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Poe said, glaring at Ben. “You asked her to move in with you but you haven't told her that you love her yet? You're an idiot.”

Ben swallowed hard but before he could say anything, Zorii spoke up. “He's quite clearly said it to her, Poe. I heard him do as much when she was over here.”

Poe's jaw dropped from shock. “Who are you and what have you done with Ben Solo?” he eventually asked, making Zorii laugh. 

“Did you really think Ben wasn't capable of this?”

“You haven't been around for the last decade, Zorii. Trust me, if you had been, you'd be thinking the same thing,” Poe said seriously. “Holy fuck, Ben.”

“Hey, Poe,” came Rey's voice as she approached them. “I am here to get orders and that's it, unfortunately. We're super busy at the moment.”

Poe looked at the rest of the dining room as though he was just realizing that. “Fuck. I've got to get back to work. We will be discussing this more later, Ben.”

“Not a chance in hell,” Ben called out as Poe walked away, making Zorii laugh.

“He hasn't outgrown being a gossiper, I see.”

“Snap's still worse,” Ben said, turning to Rey. “You know what I want to drink. Zorii?”

“Just bring me a glass of water with no ice.”

“No ice?”

“No ice,” Zorii confirmed, and Rey wrote that down. 

“I will remember that then. I'll be back shortly.”

Ben watched Rey walk away and then turned his attention back to Zorii, seeing her looking at him with a smile on her face. “What?”

“You're happy. I can't remember the last time I heard that Ben Solo was happy.”

“To be perfectly honest with you, Zorii, I can't remember the last time that I was. Rey's come into my life and made everything better. Except for my students this semester. They're all idiots.”

“Poe was mentioning that,” Zorii said as she picked up her menu. “Something about how they all deserve to fail.”

“They're all going to fail. I don't care if they think they don't deserve that. They are the worst students I've ever had,” Ben said, sighing. “I'm a little concerned about what that's going to do to my reputation as a professor though. I can't imagine Snoke is going to look too kindly on me failing every single student I have this semester.”

“I wouldn't worry about that until you have to. Besides, you can be wickedly convincing when it comes to talking about literature,” Zorii pointed out. “You had me reading books that I had absolutely no interest in just because you'd talk about them. I suspect that habit will be starting up again now that we're around each other once more.”

Rey came back to the table before Ben could respond, setting down their drinks and then reaching for her order book again. “Do you know what you want to order?”

Ben noticed the harried look on Rey's face and reached out to tangle their fingers together. “Deep breaths, remember?”

Rey took three deep breaths and then smiled at him. “Thank you. Now, orders? I can come back if necessary but it may be a bit.”

They gave Rey their orders and she bent down to kiss him again before walking off, and Zorii laughed at the look on Ben's face. “I've seen you with girlfriends before, Ben, but I don't think I've ever seen you like this.”

“It's never been like this,” Ben said, reaching for his coffee. “I'm just trying to deal with that.”

“With the fact that you might have finally met the one?” Zorii asked, and Ben's eyes shot up to meet hers. “What? Can't even admit that to me?”

Ben took eleven deep breaths to calm his nerves. “I'm trying so hard not to fuck this up because I don't want it to end,” he said softly. “And I know that I'm going to fuck it up in the end and the mere thought kills me. Everyone thinks that I'm moving too slowly but I have to do this on my terms. Rey's the only one who understands that.”

“Then that's all that matters,” Zorii said seriously. “She's the one you need to worry about. Not anyone else. If she's willing to be patient while you realize what you really want, then that's great.”

“I'm just waiting for the beginning of the end like what always happens.”

“Hey,” Zorii said, “look at me.”

Ben met her gaze and Zorii shook her head. “You are not allowed to think that way, okay? Believe that things will work instead of waiting for them to fall apart. Doing anything but that will just make you paranoid on top of scared.”

“I just can't imagine that anyone is going to want to put up with my bullshit problems for the rest of their life. Because the way that I am now is beyond anything you remember. Mara dying fucked me up so much, Zorii.”

“Then let someone help you through them instead of pushing them away because you think they want to leave,” Zorii said, smiling at him. “And if Rey says she's willing, then you need to trust in that.”

Ben went to respond but heard his name be called out, and he looked up to see Armitage and Phasma making their way towards him. “Fuck.”

Zorii looked over her shoulder and saw them coming, sighing. “I'll handle this, okay?”

“Zorii...”

“Trust me to handle this,” Zorii declared, and Ben nodded. “Hux! Phasma! I haven't seen you two in ten years!”

Zorii was standing up and giving them hugs before Ben could blink, and then Armitage and Phasma were joining them at the table. “Hello,” he offered weakly when Armitage grinned at him. 

“Alright, I've finally got you in a place where I can get some details on Rey, so spill, Solo.”

Phasma reached out and smacked Hux along the side of his head. “That is not appropriate, Armitage.”

“Oh come on, you know I'm dying to talk about this,” Armitage said, rubbing the side of his head. “And that hurt.”

“Good,” Phasma said seriously. 

“Actually, I need you two's help with something,” Zorii said, smiling at Ben before turning her attention back to them. “I need Poe to start having actual conversations with me again. He's still scared out of his mind of saying the wrong thing.”

“Do you blame him?” Armitage asked, turning to look at Ben.

“Do excuse his obnoxiousness,” Phasma said, smiling at Zorii. “And I would very much like to hear about this instead of listening to him pester Ben for information that I already have.”

“What?!” Armitage exclaimed. “And you're keeping it from me?”

“Rey asked me to and I know that Ben doesn't want you to know it either, so shut up and let's help Zorii.”

Ben gave Phasma a grateful look as Rey approached the table, quickly getting Armitage and Phasma's drink orders. She bent and gave Ben a deep kiss before walking away, and Ben couldn't keep the smile off his face. 

He loved her. She loved him. 

Things were good.

Though sex that night was probably going to fuck everything up.


End file.
